Author: John Bass

ROH TV Preview 7/6/2023

ROH will air a new episode of its weekly television show tonight at 7 pm ET on HonorClub. 

You can sign up for the streaming service here. Below is the lineup for the show: 

  • The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) and Stu Grayson vs. Zak Patterson, Macrae Martin & Rip Impact
  • Diamante vs. Vanessa Kraven
  • ROH Women’s Champion Athena vs. Seleziya Sparx in a Proving Ground match
  • Daniel Garcia vs. Christopher Daniels
  • The Kingdom (Mike Bennett, Matt Taven & Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs. The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) and Trish Adora
  • JD Drake vs. Tony Nese
  • Lee Moriarty & Big Bill vs. The Boys (Brent & Brandon Tate)
  • Komander vs. Gringo Loco
  • Gates of Agony vs. Action Andretti & Darius Martin
  • Shane Taylor vs. Josh Woods vs. Brian Cage vs. Willie Mack vs. Dalton Castle vs. Trent Seven

Kenny Omega Teases Final Member For The Elite Team For AEW Blood & Guts

When AEW Dynamite went off the air on TBS on Wednesday night, the action continued.

Kenny Omega got on the microphone and cut a promo after the show wrapped up for the crowd inside Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

“Now you guys listen to this,” Omega said. “There was a week when my whereabouts were unknown. I didn’t stay home. I didn’t go to Canada.”

From there, he would go on to tease the fifth member for The Elite team in their AEW Blood & Guts showdown against the Blackpool Combat Club.

“I went to recruit an old friend, somebody who’s very near and dear to my heart,” Omega said. “I’ve got no doubt in my mind that as much as he cares about me, he cares about the men in this ring, he cares about this promotion, he cares about changing the face of professional wrestling. At Blood and Guts in two weeks, there is no way we lose.”

Source: PWMania

AEW Dynamite Preview 7/5/2023

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS and emanate from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

  • Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament Quarterfinals: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin
  • Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament Quarterfinals: MJF & Adam Cole vs. TBA
  • Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho
  • Kenny Omega vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • We will hear from Chris Jericho
  • Pre-taped segment with Jon Moxley

MLW Fusion Preview 7/5/2023

Special time and day!

MLW FUSION tonight at 7pm ET headlined by The Samoan SWAT Team vs The Second Gear Crew in a Hardcore match for the World Tag Team Championship, streaming on MLW’s YouTube channel and FITE+, Friday on beIN XTRA and Saturday on Cable TV’s beIN SPORTS (find a provider). 

  • The Samoan SWAT Team vs The Second Gear Crew – Hardcore match for the World Tag Team Championship
  • AKIRA vs Lince Dorado – World Middleweight Championship
  • Mandy Leon vs Billie Starkz

The final stop on the road to Saturday’s Never Say Never live special on FITE+ is here!

The Samoan SWAT Team put their dominant reign over the tag team division to task as Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau wage war with The Second Gear Crew in a Hardcore match for the World Tag Team Championship! 

Can the combined finesse of Juicy’s unmatched power and Lance’s crisp offense overcome professional wrestling’s dangerous highwaymen, or will Ol’ Mancer and 1 Called Manders spill blood and brawl their way to their first taste of championship gold in the league?

As the clock winds down to Never Say Never this Saturday on FITE+, Hammerstone and Alex Kane are in the house. Both champion and challenger will address the media for the final time ahead of their World Heavyweight Championship showdown this Saturday night.

Plus, rumors and innuendo of a shadowy power broker backing The BOMAYE Fight Club continue to cast a cloud over Never Say Never’s main event. Who could the mysterious backer be? Part 2 of MLW’s exclusive expose airs tonight!

“The World’s Greatest Wonder” Microman is on the scene with his jovial buddy Mister Saint Laurent. With it being Microman-Day in the city, Saint Laurent promises a big surprise for his little amigo. 

The Calling’s “Death Fighter” AKIRA puts his newly won World Middleweight Championship on the line against former champ Lince Dorado in a rematch. Can Lince get lucha lit once again, or will the infamous calling card definitively claim Dorado as a victim?

After being on the receiving end of The Calling’s horrifying “gift” last week, Billie Starkz steps into the ring with Mandy Leon. Can Starkz stop The Calling’s attempted stranglehold over the Featherweight division dead in its tracks, or will Mandy turn Starkz into her own personal human horror show project? Tune in and find out!

PLUS: Davey Boy Smith Jr and more!

WWE NXT Preview 7/4/2023

WWE NXT from the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida on the USA Network: 

  • Loser Leaves NXT: Creed Brothers vs. The Dyad
  • Mustafa Ali vs. Tyler Bate
  • Roxanne Perez vs. Blair Davenport
  • NXT Underground: Eddie Thorpe w/Gable Steveson vs. Damon Kemp
  • Jacy Jayne vs. Lyra Valkyria
  • What will Bron Breakker have to say after last week’s ending?

Backstage Update On Drew McIntyre’s WWE Return & Contract Status

Drew McIntyre made his return to WWE at Saturday’s Money In The Bank 2023 pay-per-view event and confronted Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER following the latter’s victory over Matt Riddle.

According to a report from Pwinsider, McIntyre’s contract expires in early 2024. As of now, contract talks are yet to commence as there is sufficient time left on the deal. McIntyre is reportedly unhappy with recent WWE creative and is also far apart on money with the company for a new deal. WWE could extend his existing deal to around WrestleMania next April.

While WWE wanted McIntyre to return at Money In The Bank 2023, the Scottish Psychopath demanded a strong storyline for his return and both parties finally reached an agreement in the final days leading up to the show.

McIntyre was reportedly in continuous communication with Triple H and was also dealing with some injuries that had piled up in the lead-up to WrestleMania 39.

WWE kept McIntyre’s return a well-guarded secret and both sides went particularly silent on the matter in the weeks leading into Money In The Bank 2023.

It’s believed McIntyre will challenge GUNTHER for the Intercontetnial Title at SummerSlam.

Source: eWn

NJPW Strong Independence Day Final Cards 7/4 & 7/5 2023

NJPW will hold its Strong Independence Day event over the course of two nights on July 4th and July 5th in Japan, with both shows airing on NJPW World at 5:10 a.m. Eastern time.

The event will feature two AEW stars in action as Jon Moxley, who will be teaming with Homicide on the first night against El Desperado & Jun Kasai in an “Exciting Encounter Doomsday No DQ” match, while he’ll wrestle Desperado on the second night in a “Final Death” match.

Eddie Kingston will also be in action. Here are the final cards:

Night 1

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match:
TJP & Francesco Akira (champions) vs. Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors

Exciting Encounter Doomsday No DQ Match:
Jon Moxley & Homicide vs. El Desperado & Jun Kasai

NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship Match:
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (champions) vs. Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd

Eddie Kingston & Rocky Romero vs. KENTA & Gedo

Tom Lawlor vs. Kosei Fujita

Lance Archer, Alex Zayne & Ryohei Oiwa vs. JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs

Bad Dude Tito vs. The DKC

Willow Nightingale & Momo Kohgo vs. Giulia & Thekla

Kickoff Match:
Syusuke Taguchi, YOH & Oskar Leube vs. Kengo, Dragon Libre & Takahiro Katori

Night 2

NJPW Strong Openweight Championship Match:
KENTA (champion) vs. Eddie Kingston

Final Death Match:
Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match:
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (champions) vs. Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd

NJPW Strong Women’s Championship Match:
Willow Nightingale (champion) vs. Giulia

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & The DKC vs. Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs

Lance Archer & Alex Zayne vs. Bad Dude Tito & Kosei Fujita

Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors vs. YOH & Rocky Romero

Homicide & Ryohei Oiwa vs. TJP & Francesco Akira

JR Kratos vs. OSkar Leube

Kickoff Match:
Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato & Boltin Oleg vs. Dragon Libre, Takahiro Katori & Rekka

WWE RAW Preview 7/3/2023

Tonight’s WWE Raw will air live on the USA Network and emanate from the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, MD.

Fallout from Money In The Bank

Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs, Natalya

Backstage Reason For WWE Splitting Up Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler

Saturday’s WWE Money in the Bank event featured a number of surprises and one of those included Shayna Baszler turning on Ronda Rousey in the midst of their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship defense. As a result, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were able to regain the gold, and it appears Baszler and Rousey are on track for a singles clash.

During the latest episode of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer noted that this was always the plan, however, Rousey’s arm injury from before WrestleMania 39 is what screwed up the timeline. He claimed that Rousey has a “hard out” for her next hiatus or possible departure, which will occur long before WrestleMania 40 rolls around.

“The point is that whatever it is they’re planning to do, they want to do a feud,” Meltzer explained. “The whole tag team was to set up Ronda and Shayna doing a feud. Ronda wanted to do this feud with Shayna, she got what she wanted. She’s always wanted to do it because Shayna’s the one who got her into pro wrestling… So to pay her back, they’re going to do a program. I don’t know if it’s one match, I don’t know if it’s two or three, but based on whenever that out is, they had to get it done now.”

Meltzer reiterated that prior to Rousey’s injury, there were plans for them to have a longer title reign that would’ve allowed fans to see the cracks forming before the inevitable split. As of this writing, it remains to be seen when Rousey vs. Baszler will take place. WWE SummerSlam will be the next premium live event in Detroit on August 5.

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to “Wrestling Observer Radio”

Mickie James’ In-Ring Return Revealed – Details

Mickie James has announced that she will be making her in-ring return in France next weekend for the Biterroise Wrestling Association’s International Wrestling Festival show.

The event takes place on Saturday, July 8. This will be James’ first match since she relinquished the Knockouts Title due to a rib injury earlier this year.

James will be wrestling Aurora Teves at the International Wrestling Festival show.

The former Knockouts Champion tweeted,

“I can’t wait to go to France!!! My 1st match back from injury is a real test against @aurorateves & going international!!!! Then our 1st real VACATION in a very Looooooong time. So excited babe @RealNickAldis !!!! LFG!”

James’ husband, Impact Wrestling star Nick Aldis, will also be in action at the show. Aldis will wrestle Tom La Ruffa for the ABC Ultimate Championship.

Source: eWn